Allen and Britton stay as Swans appoint new staff

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Leon Britton and Joe Allen are to stay on at Swansea City as part of a new-look coaching staff which will also include assistant head coach Ryan Maye, who arrives from Aston Villa.

Club legends Britton and Allen were appointed on a short-term basis to support Vitor Matos after he was named head coach on 24 November.

The plan was for the two former midfielders to step aside once Matos' backroom team from former club Maritimo were cleared to join him in Wales.

But Swansea now say Allen and Britton are to stay on within the coaching set-up alongside Portuguese trio Diogo Medeiros, Toze Mendes and Goncalo Ricca.

Maye, who has been head of coaching and development at Aston Villa since 2019, studied for his pro licence with the Football Association of Wales alongside Matos.

Maye's role at Villa saw him oversee coaching from under-nine to under-21 level, while he has previously had spells at Chelsea, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and the Football Association.

Matos took over at Swansea on 24 November, but the arrivals of Medeiros, Mendes and Ricca had been held up because of doubts over whether they would be cleared to work in the United Kingdom.

But the trio have now been appointed by the Championship club having worked alongside Matos at former club Maritimo.

First-team coach Kristian O'Leary and head of goalkeeping Martyn Margetson, who were part of former boss Alan Sheehan's coaching staff, will remain in their roles.

Medeiros – who the club say will arrive in the "next few weeks" - was assistant to Matos at the Portuguese second-tier side, while Mendes is an experienced coach and Ricca is an analyst and coach.

"We are very pleased to be able to confirm these appointments and provide further detail on the make-up of our football staff," said Swansea chief executive Tom Gorringe.

"I also want to place on record my thanks to everyone involved in helping us as we advanced through the various required processes.

"As stated previously, this was something that we always knew we would need to go through, and we are delighted to have added this additional support for Vitor ahead of a busy run of fixtures.

"We are also grateful for the continued support of the existing staff in Martyn Margetson and Kris O'Leary, as well as that of Joe and Leon, which has been invaluable for us as a club."

Aside from Medeiros, Matos now has his full coaching team in place going into Friday's Championship game against Wrexham (20:00 GMT).

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